Robotics

A pioneer for more than half a century

Innovation in the field of robotics will enable significant improvements to be made not only in our quality of life but also in our work efficiency. For several decades now, the canton of Vaud has been active in all of the sub-sectors of this leading industry, focusing for example on man-machine interfaces, captors and sensors, microtechnology architecture, and programming using new artificial intelligence tools.

The history of robotics in Vaud goes back to the beginning of the 1970s. The region’s long tradition of watch manufacture and micro-engineering turned it into a world-renowned center of competency for the robotics industry.

This fertile ground – combined with academic excellence, an environment that promotes the transfer of technologies, and a strong cross-disciplinary culture – has enabled a considerable number of start-ups and scale-ups specializing in robotics to see the light of day and to develop on an international scale. There are many businesses in the region that are active in this domain, including Bluebotics, Ecorobotix, Force Dimension, Bestmile, and Rovenso.

Today, the region is most notably a pioneer in the field of mobile robotics. Thanks to the positive influence of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics, in which the EPFL actively participates, it also excels in terms of portable and educational robotics. Research into artificial intelligence and virtual reality is also benefiting from this same interest in innovation that can be found in the canton of Vaud.